Speculative Fiction—an all-encompassing genre created to describe stories of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and other stories that have an element of “What if...” in them. A story in speculative fiction is one that adds an element of the unreal, or asks, what would become of our society if history took a different direction at some important event? Fiction with a little something extra thrown in.—William D. Richards

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Thursday, December 31, 2015

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So
what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of
speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though
some November books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The
books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links
only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future
editions.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Second Skyn by Damien Boyes:
If
it weren't for his Digital Life Assurance, Toronto Police Detective
Finsbury Gage would be dead—smeared across the highway by a crazed man
in a stolen urban assault vehicle. Finsbury hung together long enough
for the recovery team to arrive. His wife wasn't so lucky.

Now,
six months later, his mind restored to a prosthetic brain, wrapped in a
healthy new body, and technically immortal, Finsbury is back to a life
that no longer exists. He's all alone, his home a shrine to everything
he lost. He's been reassigned, knocked from Homicide to busting
bit-heads and chasing after lost minutes of the idle rich. And his
thoughts connect directly to the internet.

The only thing keeping
Finsbury from blowing his plastic brains out is the memory of his wife's
death. It's 2.57 seconds long and plays on repeat, every time he closes
his eyes. But from within this loop of pain and grief he discovers a
reason to go on—the haunting glimpse of the wild-eyed man responsible
for his wife's death.

Finsbury's gonna find this guy, no matter what he has to do.

But
Finsbury isn't the only one on the hunt. Something is coming for him.
Something like the world has never seen. Something that will force
Finsbury Gage to abandon everything he believes—everything he is—to
survive.

Kiss of Ice by Cora Buhlert:
The
Winter Knight is sent out to execute the Ice Maiden who has already
killed countless men. So far, none of those sent to bring the Maiden to
justice have ever returned. But the Knight is confident that he will
succeed where they failed, for he is protected by powerful magic.

When
the Winter Knight finally reaches the castle of the Ice Maiden, she is
strangely calm in the face of death and does not even try to resist. But
has the Winter Knight truly succeeded where so many before him have
failed or does the Ice Maiden still have a trick or two up her sleeve?

This is a dark and wintery fairytale of 4700 words or approximately 16 print pages altogether.

Michiko
Koyama, the hero known as the Monkey Queen, and her partner in
adventure Beth McGill are happily adjusting to finally being more than
friends. But Beth has made a new friend, student and fellow geek girl
Abigail Main-Drake, and Michiko is trying very hard not to be jealous.

Meanwhile,
a rise in assaults by ogres is putting Emigre communities in danger. A
hero has risen to help defend them, the swashbuckling sorceress who
calls herself Redblade. Michiko is thrilled to have a new ally, but Beth
is feeling left out, unneeded.

But what Michiko and Beth don't
know is that Abby is Redblade. And that secret, and the magic sword Abby
carries, could spell doom for the Monkey Queen.

Join the adventure with Michiko and Beth in this fifth book in the Monkey Queen series, written with new readers in mind! Fantasy with heroines, humor and heart!

When
a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow
Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the
universe. With that realization, everyone freaked out for a little
while.
Or, almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the
news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality
of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years, the ship
did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody
understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better
than the people who lived right next door.

Sixteen-year old Annie
Collins is one of the ship’s closest neighbors. Once upon a time she
took every last theory about the ship seriously, whether it was advanced
by an adult ,or by a peer. Surely one of the theories would be proven
true eventually—if not several of them—the very minute the ship decided
to do something. Annie is starting to think this will never happen.

One
late August morning, a little over three years since the ship landed,
Edgar Somerville arrived in town. Ed’s a government operative posing as a
journalist, which is obvious to Annie—and pretty much everyone else he
meets—almost immediately. He has a lot of questions that need answers,
because he thinks everyone is wrong: the ship is doing something, and he
needs Annie’s help to figure out what that is.

Annie is a good
choice for tour guide. She already knows everyone in town and when Ed’s
theory is proven correct—something is apocalyptically wrong in Sorrow
Falls—she’s a pretty good person to have around.
As a matter of fact, Annie Collins might be the most important person on the planet. She just doesn’t know it.

No
one said being half dragon would be easy, but Kate O’Connor’s life has
gone completely off the rails. She thought she’d won the succession war
between the daughters of the dragon queen, until a shocking betrayal
changed everything.

Now seven new sisters have joined the fray, a
sinister government taskforce is gunning for her, and the Japanese queen
has hit town, bent on snatching the throne for herself. Worst of all,
her beloved son has been abducted.

The shifter world has never
seen a proving like this one, but then, there’s never been a dragon
quite like Kate before. She’ll need her human ingenuity as well as her
dragon magic to save her son and everyone she holds dear. The final
moves in the deadly endgame take her from goblin caves to Japanese
palaces as she races against the clock to snatch victory from the dragon
jaws of defeat.

Twiceborn Endgame is the third book in the urban fantasy trilogy The Proving.

Did I say half dead? Because I meant 100% dead. Full on. I don't do things halfway.

So
here I am, alive for some reason, just another sunny day in Miami. It's
a perfect paradise, except I'm into something bad. Wanted by police,
drenched in the stink of dark magic, nether creatures coming out of the
woodwork, and don't get me started on the Haitian voodoo gang. Trust me,
it's all fun and games until there's a zombie pit bull on your tail.

The Bizarre Half-Life of John Fortune by James Gideon:
John
Fortune is a street kid made good. Thanks to a genius for maths and
physics, he carves out a successful career in interstellar engineering.
But there's something not quite right about John. Something not quite
human. His one true friend, Frank Patterson, is sure he knows the
secret. Frank can't afford to be wrong. Mankind's survival depends on
it.

This 10,000 word short SF story/novella is perfect for fans of Ray Bradbury and Mike Resnick.

Omega Baggage by Eileen Glass:
Liam
doesn’t have a plan, but he’s got the basics covered. As far as food,
shelter, and clothing are concerned, he does right by his omega. But
still the smaller wolf flinches from him, never speaks. And every mild
suggestion is obeyed to the letter. Something’s not right, he knows
that, but maybe it’s for the best.
Skye wouldn’t stay if he learned the truth.

The
stories in this collection merge technological wonder with the
everyday. Children upgrade their fighting spiders with armor, and
toymakers create punchcard-driven marionettes. Large fish lumber across
the skies, while boat people find a new home on the edge of a different
dimension. Technology and tradition meld as the people adapt to the
changing forces of their world. The Sea Is Ours is an exciting new
anthology that features stories infused with the spirits of Southeast
Asia’s diverse peoples, legends, and geography.

Carrie
Hatchett is a low-achieving daydreamer, and the last person on Earth
who should be resolving disputes for the Transgalactic Council. After
providing a good home for her butt-ugly dog and psychotic cat, her
biggest challenge in life is to avoid being fired, again.

But a
strange green mist sucks her beneath her kitchen sink, and an unusual
clerical error leads to an offer she foolishly doesn’t refuse.

In
settling a conflict between the mechanical placktoids and the mysterious
oootoon, Carrie reveals a threat to the entire galaxy.

Mission Improbable is Book One in the light-hearted, fast-paced Carrie Hatchett Space Adventures series.

The
world is full of beauty and mystery. In these 17 tales, Gunnells will
take you on a journey through landscapes of light and darkness, rapture
and agony, hope and fear.

A post-apocalyptic landscape where it is
safer to forget who you once were... An unusual support group comprised
of cities dying of a common illness... A porn star that has opened
himself up to demonic forces... Two men battling each other to the death
who discover they have much in common... A woman whose masochistic
tendencies may be her boyfriend's ruin... A writer whose new friendship
proves a danger to his marriage and his sanity.

Let Gunnells guide you through these landscapes where magnificence and decay co-exist side by side.

The Fredorian Destiny by Adair Hart:
The
timeline is wrong. This is discovered when Dr. Albert Snowden and his
niece, Emily, travel with Evaran to a galactic cultural exhibition event
on Kreagus, the capital home world of the Kreagan Star Empire and
galactic superpower near Earth. The Fredorians should be presenting an
ancient artifact, known as the Arkaron, to the Kreagan emperor. The
problem is they aren’t. Evaran has decided to step in and help the
Fredorians achieve their destiny while stabilizing the timeline.

They
must find the three lost Arkaron crystals in order to assemble the
Arkaron. To make matters worse, Seeros, a powerful industrialist, has a
bounty on their heads, causing bounty hunters to harass them each step
of the way.

As if that weren’t enough, an unknown faction is
hiring freelance mercenaries to hunt them down as well. Evaran is joined
by others, and together, they will have to navigate these perils to
assemble the Arkaron and achieve the Fredorian destiny.

Choosing You by Jaylee James:
Collin
is in high school when he is visited by a time traveler - a woman who
claims to be his wife in a hypothetical future... only the timeline has
been disrupted, and the two will never meet unless he makes four key
choices in his life that will guide them together again.

"Choosing
You" is a short story in a conversational, first-person voice, about
what happens when deciding to love someone becomes a literal choice.
It's 7300 words long and features a transgender protagonist.

After
surviving a brutal cultist attack on her village, Ruia led the other
survivors to the safety of Fort Sekhmet with the help of Tjety, a Ranger
of Mayat. With Tjety's life now hanging in the balance, can Ruia gather
enough help and learn to use her newfound hekau magic to heal Tjety
before the forces of darkness close in and snuff out all hope?

House of the Healer is the third episode in PISTOLS AND PYRAMIDS, a monthly series best described as an ancient Egyptian-themed weird western with magic. And mummies. Lots of mummies.

She
woke up inside of a cylinder in an underground chamber with no
memories. She is told that the world has been devastated by war, disease
and mutations. Humankind had evacuated Earth and fled to hundreds of
different worlds far away. A quarantine was declared, but this did not
prevent pirates and slavers from raiding the villages of the remnant
left behind.

Tara feels strangely compelled to "fix" Earth, knowing this could take decades and generations. She is "The Fourth".

Greyson
was born and raised as the only child of a high government official on
the world called Roma, which modelled itself after the Roman Empire. The
women of Roma are created artificially and have no rights. Thus, Roma
is a pariah among civilized worlds.

As a young man Greyson is framed for a crime and his own father exiled him from his home world.
Tara
wants to find out what it means to be "The Fourth" and to bring Earth
back from the dead. Greyson wants to go home and clear his name. Their
paths are destined to cross.

For
one person, time flies by at a rapid pace. In a blink, hundreds of
years pass. A life begins and ends, a million-year-old traitor returns
to the place he once betrayed, an eyeless assassin questions his mission
as he takes an innocent life.

In a flicker, an omnipotent leader's
rule crumbles beneath his feet, a treacherous woman revels in her plans
as they come together to bring down those around her.

In a single second, four paths cross. As each story ends, the next begins in A Universe Without Stars.

Snowberry Blossom by Missy Sheldrake:
Follow
the knight Azaeli and her best friend Rian the Mage on a quick
adventure to seek the Snowberry Blossom, a bloom that holds magic only
if picked at midnight on Midwinter's Eve.

Grab a cup of cider and
sit back to read this tale of romance, adventure, and fantasy told Mya,
Bard of His Majesty's Elite of Cerion.

This short story takes place in between Call of Sunteri, book 2 and book 3 of the Keepers of the Wellsprings series, but there are no spoilers and it reads as a stand-alone tale.

KEEP by Hollis Shiloh:Pete
might always know when people are lying, but that doesn't make him a
good judge of character. Will he ever find a man who wants to keep him?

Pete's
the kind of guy who gets on people's nerves. He can't sit still. He
talks too much. He doesn't know when to shut up. And he always knows
when people are lying.

While his talent wasn't strong enough to
get an empath rating from the ESRB, he now has a second chance with the
new testing system they're using. If he makes it, he'll have some
well-paying job offers from people who actually appreciate his gifts.

Maybe this time things will work out. Maybe his life will finally take a turn for the better. With some hot guys in it, too.

The Prime Rift by Veronica Sicoe:
Taryn
has risked everything to free the first human colony from the tyranny
of the TMC. With the help of her mind-linked ally, the alien warlord
Amharr, she has finally succeeded.

Now Taryn must free the other colonies too, before the Ascendancy's world-crushing ships reach human space.

But
when she needs him most, Taryn must let Amharr go, or their Link will
kill him. The others who stood by her side have seemingly turned against
her. And the sadistic TMC General Hurst, who craves the power of
Taryn's Link, is now hunting her down.

With time running out, Taryn is about to face her greatest challenge yet, and she must do so alone.

Their
worst enemy, the Red Queen, rampages across the galaxy evading capture,
while blocked portals restrict normal commerce among planets.
Compounding their problems, half the Grand Masters on the Council fear
Violet is the agent of their doom as her father foretold, and vow to
eliminate her. To restore peace, Violet and Athanor embark on a
hazardous quest for a weapon hidden by the ancient psychic masters on
one of four planets. But, the weapon proves elusive, dangers lurk in the
ancient sites, and new alliances forged with bizarre entities may not
be sufficient to foil their enemies and save the galaxy.

Echoes of a World Gone by Elliott Webber:
After
finding a mysterious radio signal, Luke and his sister, Ada, journey
through the deadly environment of the post-apocalyptic desert, risking
everything for a chance of a better life.

She
has been dealing with the demonic all her life, so when her brother
gets tangled up with a demon named Sparkles, ‘Luna the Lunatic’ rolls in
on her motorcycle to save the day.

Armed with the ability to harm
demons, her scathing sarcasm, and a hefty chip on her shoulder, Luna
gathers the most unusual of allies, teaming up with a green-eyed heroin
addict and a snarky demon ‘of some import.’
After all, outcasts of a feather should stick together...even until the end.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

About Mission Improbable:

In the deepest reaches of the galaxy there are places and beings that aren’t impossible, just very, very improbable.Carrie Hatchett is a low-achieving daydreamer, and the last person
on Earth who should be resolving disputes for the Transgalactic Council.
After providing a good home for her butt-ugly dog and psychotic cat,
her biggest challenge in life is to avoid being fired, again.

But a strange green mist sucks her beneath her kitchen sink, and an
unusual clerical error leads to an offer she foolishly doesn’t refuse.

In settling a conflict between the mechanical placktoids and the
mysterious oootoon, Carrie reveals a threat to the entire galaxy.

Mission Improbable is Book One in the light-hearted, fast-paced Carrie Hatchett Space Adventures series.

Excerpt:

All the cardboard boxes in the
kitchen were empty so Carrie went to check the rest of the flat. She saw a
small unopened box in the bedroom. Toodles’ claws flashed out as she passed the
bed, but she sidestepped just in time.

“Toodles, sweetiepie, did you miss Mummy?”

Carrie opened the box. Inside
were a bottle of washing up liquid, scourers, a plunger, washing up brushes,
spray cleaner and cloths. Everything that should go under the kitchen sink. She
would have to force that door open.

On the way back past the bed
Toddles caught her, raking three long scratches through her tights.

“Ow! Toodles, that really hurt. Don’t be cheeky.” Carrie squatted and
peered under the bed. Baleful orange eyes glowed in the shadows. “You’re a very
cheeky girl sometimes, Toodles, did you know that?” As Carrie reached towards
the cat, Toodles’ claws made another lightning-fast appearance and Carrie
snatched her hand away. A hiss was followed by a guttural, whining growl.

Squinting into the darkness Carrie
said, “Okay, so you want to be alone for a little while. I can see that. It’s a
new place and you’re feeling vulnerable. I get it.” She picked up the box and
stood. “Barry doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I do listen. I do hear what
people have to say, don’t I, Toodles?”

After returning to the
kitchen, Carrie pulled with all her might at the stubborn cupboard door, but it
would not budge. She opened the other cupboards, but they were all full. She
frowned at the box of kitchen stuff. It was so annoying. It was the last box,
and if she could just put the contents away she would be finished.

Rogue clattered into the
kitchen, barking, his paws slipping on the tiles. Carrie smiled. Her lovely
handsome dog was feeling better already.

Then she noticed what he was
barking at. The cupboard door under the sink was glowing, a green pulsating
light. Carrie’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh no. Rogue, what is it?”

Toodles’ catty whine from the
bedroom joined Rogue’s deep-throated woofs, creating an escalating cacophony
until, with a bang, the door flew open. Carrie jumped and Rogue whimpered and
fled, his tail between his legs. Toodles’ whine stopped. A vivid green glow
shone from Carrie’s under-sink cupboard, bathing the kitchen in an eerie light.

Her heart in her mouth, Carrie
stumbled back towards the kitchen door, intending to follow Rogue’s hasty
retreat, but after a moment she hesitated. Her breathing slowed and her head
tilted to one side. She took a step towards the cupboard, and another. Bending
down, she peeped inside.

Green mist swirling in a lazy
spiral filled the space. Carrie crouched closer, gazing at the mist. It looked
like an emerald Milky Way set in motion, its centre disappearing into infinity.
She could not figure out what it was. A gas leak? Something supernatural? She
stuck out her nose and sniffed. The mist had no smell. A sudden thought
occurred to her—maybe she could ask for a rent reduction? Swirling green
substances in cupboards were definitely an inconvenience, especially when they frightened
her pets.

As her hair began to lift and
pull towards the open cupboard, Carrie wondered briefly what it might mean
before she was sucked, head first, under her kitchen sink.

About J.J. Green:

Fascinated by the unusual and unknown since childhood, J.J. Green
first departed the U.K. as a young adult and has lived in Australia and
Laos as well as her current abode, Taiwan. Her choice of writing genre
reflects her interests and includes science fiction, fantasy, weird,
dark and humorous tales.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

About Rarity from the Hollow:

Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire. The content addresses social issues. It’s a children’s story for adults, not for the prudish, fainthearted or easily offended.

Lacy Dawn occupies the body of an eleven year old and sounds like one, but she has evolved under the supervision of Universal Management for hundreds of thousand of years. She is not a typical little girl, and if you think of her as such, you may be shocked.

She lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who’s becoming very skilled at laying fiber optic cable. Lacy Dawn’s android boyfriend DotCom, for when she’s old enough to have one, has come to the hollow with a mission. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop ’till You Drop) to recruit Lacy Dawn to save the universe from an imminent threat to its economic structure. In exchange, Earth would be designated as a planet that is eligible for continued existence – granted immunity. Will Lacy Dawn’s magic enable her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family?

Excerpt:

... Jenny walked up the hill to Roundabend. She called Lacy
Dawn's name every few yards. Her muddy tennis shoes slipped and slid.

I hear her voice. Why won't she answer me?

“Sounds like she’s talking to someone,” Jenny said to the Woods.

Nobody responded. The trees weren't supposed to since Jenny was no longer a
child. Her former best friends had made no long-term commitment beyond
childhood victimization. They had not agreed to help her deal with domestic
violence in adulthood. She hugged the closest tree.

I will always love you guys.

Jenny quickened
her pace, stopped, and listened for human voices. A few yards later, she
stopped again.

Now it sounds like she’s behind me instead of in front.

Jenny looked to the left of the path.

There ain't no cave Roundabend, but there it is.

She walked toward the entrance. The voices grew louder and she looked inside.
Lacy Dawn sat on a bright orange recliner. Tears streamed down her face.
Jenny ran to her daughter through a cave that didn't exit and into a blue light
that did.

DotCom sat naked in a lotus position on the floor in front of the
recliner. Jenny covered Lacy Dawn with her body and glared at
him.

"Grrrrr," emanated from Jenny. It was a sound similar to the
one that Brownie made the entire time the food stamp woman
was at their house. It was a sound that filled the atmosphere with
hate. No one moved. The spaceship’s door slid shut.

“Mommmmmy, I can’t breathe. Get up.”

“You make one move you sonofabitch and I’ll tear your heart out,” Jenny
repositioned to take her weight off Lacy Dawn.

Stay between them.

“Mommy, he’s my friend. More than my friend, we’re going to get married when
I'm old enough -- like when I turn fourteen. He’s my boyfriend -- what you call
it -- my fiancé.”

“You been messin’ with my little girl you pervert!” Jenny readied to
pounce.

“MOM! Take a chill pill! He ain’t been messing with me. He’s a good
person, or whatever. Anyway, he’s not a pervert. You need to just calm down and
get off me.”

Jenny stood up. DotCom stood up. Jenny’s jaw dropped.

He ain't got no private parts, not even a little bump.

“DotCom, I’d like to introduce you to my mommy, Mrs. Jenny Hickman. Mommy, I’d
like to introduce you to my fiancé, DotCom.”

Jenny sat down on the recliner. Her face was less than a foot from DotCom’s
crotch and she stared straight at it. It was smooth, hairless, and odor
free.

“Mrs. Hickman, I apologize for any inconvenience that this misunderstanding has
caused. It is very nice to meet you after having heard so much. You arrived
earlier than expected. I did not have time to properly prepare and receive.
Again, I apologize.”

I will need much more training if I'm ever assigned to a more formal setting
than a cave, such as to the United Nations.

“Come on, Mommy. Give him a hug or something.”

Jenny's left eye twitched.

DotCom put on clothing that Lacy Dawn had bought him at Goodwill. It hung a little
loose until he modified his body. Lacy Dawn hugged her
mother…

…“Besides, the transmitter was part of Daddy’s treatment.
There're a lot of other things that he did to help fix Daddy. DotCom is like a
doctor. You can see that Daddy has gotten better every day. And no, there ain’t
no transmitter in you. DotCom figured you out like a good doctor and the only
things wrong are a lack of opportunity and rotten teeth that poison your body.
You don’t need no transmitter. He just gave you a few shots of ego boost. I
don’t know what medicine that is, but I trust him. You ain't complained since
the shots started -- not even with an upset stomach.”

"He's a doctor?" Jenny asked.

“What's your problem anyway?” Lacy Dawn asked. “I know. You’re
prejudiced. You told me that people have much more in common than they do
that's different -- even if someone is a different color or religion, or from a
different state than us. You told me to try to become friends because sometimes
that person may need a good friend. Now, here you are acting like a butt hole
about my boyfriend. You’re prejudiced because he’s different than us.”

“Honey, he’s not even a person – that’s about as different as a boyfriend can
get,” Jenny said.

“So?”

Mommy's right. Maybe I need a different argument.

A fast clicking sound, a blur of motion, and a
familiar smell assaulted them.

"What's that?" Jenny asked.

She moved to protect her daughter from whatever threat loomed. Brownie, who had
been granted 27 / 7 access to the ship, bounded over the orange recliner,
knocked DotCom to the floor, licked DotCom’s face, and rubbed his head on
Jenny’s leg. He then jumped onto the recliner and lay down. His tail wagged
throughout. Jenny sat down on the recliner beside Brownie and looked at Lacy
Dawn.

“But, you were crying when I first came in. That thing was hurting you.” Jenny
shook her finger at DotCom to emphasize a different argument against him.

“Mommy, I'm so happy that I couldn’t help but cry. My man just came home from
an out-of-state job. I didn't talk to him for a whole year. Before he left, he
told me that he wasn’t even sure if he'd be able to come home. I still don’t
know what happened while he was gone. We ain't had no chance to talk. All I
know is that he's home and I'm sooooo happy.”

“Your man came home from an out-of-state job?” Jenny patted Brownie on his
head, some more and some more….

It's unusual for a man to promise to come back home and ever be seen again.
Brownie likes him and that's a good sign. Maybe she's right about himhelping
Dwayne. Something sure did and it wasn’t me. It is a nice living room. They've
been together for a while and I ain't seen a mark on her. That's unusual
too. He ain't got no private parts and that's another good thing. Hell,
if I get in the middle, she’d just run off with him anyway. I'd better
play it smart. I don't want to lose my baby.

“What about his stupid name?” Jenny asked.

“I’ve got a stupid name, too. All the kids at school call me hick because my
last name is Hickman.”

“My name was given to me by my manager a very long time ago. It represents a
respected tradition -- the persistent marketing of that which is not
necessarily the most needed. I spam…,” DotCom said.

They both glared at him.

"Dwayne is sure to be home. I don’t want him to worry. Let’s go,” Jenny
said.

“Okay, Mommy.”

“I love you, DotCom,” Lacy Dawn stepped out the ship’s door, which had slid
open. Brownie and Jenny were right behind her.

“I love you too,” DotCom said.

Lacy Dawn and Jenny held hands and walked down the path toward home. The trees
didn’t smile -- at least not so Jenny would notice. On the other hand, no
living thing obstructed, intruded, or interfered with the rite.

Jenny sang to the Woods, “My little girl’s going to marry a doctor when she
grows up, marry a doctor when she grows up, when she grows up. My little
girl’s going to marry a doctor when she grows up, marry a doctor when she grows
up, when she grows up….”

About Robert Eggleton:

Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency. Today, he is a recently retired children's psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia, where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction.

Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.

Rarity from the Hollow is available as a Kindle edition and a paperback.

Monday, December 28, 2015

About House of the Healer:

The Scales Are Out of Balance

After surviving a brutal cultist attack on her village, Ruia led the
other survivors to the safety of Fort Sekhmet with the help of Tjety, a
Ranger of Mayat. With Tjety's life now hanging in the balance, can Ruia
gather enough help and learn to use her newfound hekau magic to heal Tjety before the forces of darkness close in and snuff out all hope?

House of the Healer is the third episode in PISTOLS AND PYRAMIDS, a monthly series best described as an ancient Egyptian-themed weird western with magic. And mummies. Lots of mummies.

Excerpt:

Tjety cracked open his eyes, heavy with
fatigue and pain, and squinted at parched earth and sun-blasted dunes that
glimmered in the haze. A bleak smudge of clouds gathered on the horizon and
crept toward him. His entire body was on fire, radiating more heat than even
the glowing orb of the sun god, Re, beating down on him from on high.

He shivered in spite of the heat,
blinked, and then found himself standing several feet away from his own body,
which was sprawled out naked in the sparkling sand. His body was covered in
cuts and scrapes and his right arm hung awkwardly, splintered by a cruel
gunshot wound. A thin ribbon of silver connected his ba—his spirit—to his body.

He glanced down. He was in his ba-bird form—a hawk's body with his head
rather than that of a hawk. His right wing was shattered, hanging limp against
his body. Many of his feathers were damaged or missing, and he had numerous
other small wounds, echoing the damage evident on his human form.

Tjety tried to flap his broken appendage,
but all that did was shove a spear of pain into his mind that trailed down the
gossamer-like strand of silver and crashed into his mortal body.

He stared at the drab wasteland all
around him as cruel realization struck home. "Is this it? Have I fuckin'
died and fallen in to the Duat?"

He frowned and focused on the silver
thread connecting his ba-form to his
body. If he had died, that thing should have been severed.

He puzzled it over, but a series of
inhuman growls from somewhere deep in the wasteland around him broke his ragged
concentration. He staggered around in his broken bird form, his shattered wing
flapping helplessly. Horrifying shapes pulled from his bird form, his shattered
wing flapping helplessly. Horrifying shapes pulled from his darkest
nightmares—jackal-like creatures and massive undulating snakes—formed in the
distance, uttered unearthly sounds, and started moving toward him.

Out of reflex and long practice, he went
for his pistol, but his broken wing crashed against his body. He cried out in
pain.

He made to draw his khopesh, but of
course he wore nothing in this form. He then tried to gather strength from his hekau, to prepare a defensive spell, but
the image of a dried-out watering hole flashed in his mind. He had nothing
left—his wellspring of arcane energies was drained.

He backed away from the encroaching
shapes, feeling his silver thread spool out, keeping his ba connected to his fragile mortal shell. The shadowy forms started
to pick up speed, as if they smelled his blood and fear. He turned and ran as
fast as his little bird legs could propel him, trying desperately to achieve
some speed but fearing that he would be too slow, far too slow.

About Jim Johnson:

Jim Johnson is the author of the Pistols and Pyramids series as
well as other prose fiction series currently under development. He has
written sundry other pieces of fiction, including several stories
published in the Star Trek universe, and has freelanced for pen and
paper roleplaying game companies, including Decipher and White Wolf.
Please visit www.SCRIBEINETI.com for more information on Jim and his
interests and writing.

Jim lives in historic Alexandria, VA with his wife, newborn son, and several crazy cats.

Friday, December 25, 2015

And here is our
weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from
around the web in a special Christmas Day edition, this week with wall to wall Star Warsdiscussion. Most of the articles and posts, which contain spoilers, have spoiler warnings, but reader beware. Though we've also got a couple of non-Star Wars links as well, including several Year's Best lists.

About the Speculative Fiction Showcase

We are a blog about all things indie science fiction, fantasy and horror. Read interviews with and guest posts by spec fic writers and keep current on news from the SFF world and the latest spec-fic releases.